Agree, is this meeting leaked in order to discredit them and Kelly ?
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Off the record briefings can be used to deliberately handicap reporters and keep them from reporting stuff they could have found out on the record. That’s why some journalists decline to be involved.
This one sounds more like a focus group – they tried all of their spins on the big four to see which would work best. (Tellingly, the answer appears to have been “none”.)
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I think that to understand this we have to learn about Porter’s past as a Senate aide to both Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee. Porter was being mentored and groomed for great things, from the point of view of the GOP Right. And it seems obvious now to me that there was a strategy in place to continue to waive Porter’s security clearance at the White House, which probably included persuading the ex-wives to back off or recant.
It is the Trump Way with his lifelong trail of NDA’s to women with whom he has conducted affairs, or abused. The Media needs to dig in to the story going back to Porter’s hiring by Lee and Hatch, and the agenda pertaining to his political career. There was some agreement between Hatch and Trump, I bet… I cannot imagine you can work for the Senate and not be subject to FBI background interviews. I bet Porter lied in those interviews, probably with the full agreement and understanding of Senators Lee and Hatch.
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We need a serious congressional investigation, and possibly a special prosecutor, to determine what went on where someone with privileged access to the highest level of classified information operated in that capacity without a proper security clearance. Why is it that he was allowed to continue even one day after the FBI notified the White House that Porter had issues and was not likely to get a full security clearance?
On the matter of Kelly lying, we all know that he is lying. There is no mystery to it. The secret is why was he lying? Did he do it because of practice habits in the military to defend his own people at any cost and suppress abuse claims? Or, did he do it because Donald Trump asked him to?
In either case, Kelly needs to resign.
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This is not a national security issue. Off the record briefings usually (always) carry some issue of import that the reporters can be convinced to check their press responsibilities at the door. This ain’t that.
Never mind allies, Kelly is short on people who can walk and chew gum at the same time with two hands tied behind — well … never mind what the hands (and fists) are doing.
You remember, but for those who may not, it’s instructive to go back and look at how grateful the White House was for Porter’s competence and work ethic. The hosannas reached a crescendo in the late summer of 2017, especially after Kelly and then Trump noticed Porter. People were marveling at not only how competent he was but also how he was savvy enough to keep a very low profile …
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The swamp that is this White House notwithstanding, this is not a national security issue. Off the record briefings usually (always) carry some issue of import that the reporters can be convinced to check their press responsibilities at the door. This ain’t that. This is not Deep Throat stealthily guiding the good guys to their Pulitzer, this is the White House calling for a meet up to do some damage control. Not worthy of newspeople putting their pencils away. At a minimum, it is unseemly.
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A come to Jesus, Mary, Moses, Muhammed moment in the Department of Wishful Thinking:
After Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, John Kelly unexpectedly asks to meet with reporters on White House lawn. States he is leaving the administration immediately because “I believe Donald Trump is a danger to this nation and must speak out. While I served my beloved country long, well and loyally as a marine, I have fallen short as Chief of Staff. My loyalty belongs to my country, not the man currently in the Oval Office. I will spend the rest of my life regaining the trust of my fellow Americans, beginning today.”
A little schadenfreude goes a long way. The rest of us have earned it
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All three are Mormons. Porter was also a known quantity because his dad, also with a Harvard-Oxford pedigree, used to work for Republican presidents (Ford, Reagan, and Bush).
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Because Kelly needed Porter, desperately.
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Shorter Trump: What does security matter? I’m telling Putin everything anyway.
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So, right. I thought that the Cheney Administration with Dubya as the figure head was going to be a disaster. Because of the lack of skill, the lack of commitment to the rule of Law or to truth. And it was. By any measure, it was a complete, total, unparalleled disaster. For this nation, and for the world.
AND I AM NOSTALGIC FOR THAT TIME.
Because this seems so much worse. I didn’t like Dubya, or Dick Cheney, but I never for a heartbeat believed that they were in the pocket of a foreign power. I never for a moment believed that they did not understand the consequences of a nuclear war. I thought they might be thieves, and liars, and not terribly bright, but the reality I perceived seemed to line up fairly closely with the reality they perceived.
With the Orange Urine-Stain, those basic vital assumptions no longer apply. I am horrified.
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What pisses me off is that Ms. Sanders AGAIN informed the press pool that SHE was telling them what the Administration ‘thought’. Specifically Trump…the same man that can’t keep his damn fingers off the keyboard is suspiciously silent on this matter but BY GOD the Huckster is on it…and everyone else is just stupid if they don’t listen.
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Can you imagine if a Democratic President ever used the White House press and media office for the way Trump is using it? Huckleberry Sanders and the rest of them have been turned into Trump’s own propaganda outlet…basically a government news agency that issues lies and propaganda (what they call fake news).
White House Press Office = Communist Russia’s Tass News agency.
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That’s some wishful thinking worthy of Douglas Adams.
Cheers!
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Off-the-record briefings in the past occurred only when “national security” was implicated?
I don’t understand how you developed this impression. They’ve been used to avoid even the most trivial embarrassments.
In fact, before Nixon, almost all press interactions with presidents were off the record.
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Wow, this is THE most damning thing coming out of the WH’s missteps!
A knee-jerk reaction likely proffered by Trump and Kelly to rush out of a dilemma of their own making. Stupid indeed.
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I like it!
But you might add Ahura Mazda, Zeus, Jehovah, and Buddha, not to mention Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
Especially Shiva.
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Anybody notice that Fox wasn’t invited to this off-the-record meeting? They must have had the Platinum Level meeting earlier in the day.
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Yes, off the record and other traditions are the norm. But, it’s unusual in my mind to do so solely to defend a wife beater. Future (like 24 hour later) speeches, legislative stuff, trip plans…yes.
Defending a WH staffer when proof is already on the table? Not so much…
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